ESLICK RIDES HARD AND GAINS ON DAYTONA SPORTBIKE POINTS LEAD
Top 10 Finish at Laguna Tightens Championship Gap

East Troy, Wis. (July 6, 2009) Bruce Rossmeyer's Daytona Racing/RMR/GEICO rider Danny Eslick edged closer to the championship points lead in the AMA Pro Racing Daytona Sportbike class with an eighth place finish aboard his Buell 1125R at the Red Bull US Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca July 5.

Starting from eighth on the grid, Eslick charged toward the front of the field early in the race, challenging for the lead and battling for a spot in the top three for much of the 21-lap race, which was interrupted on Lap 10 by a red flag for a three-bike incident in the Corkscrew turn. Eslick again jumped into the fray following the restart, challenging for the lead and running as high as second with several aggressive flat-track-style passes into the tight Turn 2, before eventually falling back to an eight place finish ahead of championship rival Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki's Jamie Hacking, who finished ninth. Eslick gained a single point advantage on Hacking, but both riders closed the gap to points leader Martin Cardenas, who crashed his Team M4 Suzuki out of the lead in the early going. The race was won by Graves Yamaha factory rider Ben Bostrom.

"It just got a little too crazy up there, everyone was bouncing off of everyone else," said Eslick who was nearly caught out when Bostrom's teammate Josh Hayes crashed in the Corkscrew. "I knew Cardenas was out of the race and decided it would be smart to bring it home in the points."

Eslick's GEICO Powersports/RMR teammate Michael Barnes finished 11th, followed by Bartels' H-D/Buell rider Shawn Higbee in 13th. Latus Motor's Taylor Knapp dropped out of the race early with a mechanical problem.

With 12 rounds of the Daytona Sportbike championship completed, Cardenas remains in the lead with 255 points, followed by Hacking with 216 and Eslick with 212. Eight races remain in the season, with next round in the championship set for July 17-19 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, OH.

Founded by visionary motorcycle designer and former privateer racer Erik Buell in 1983, Buell Motorcycle Company, a subsidiary of Harley-Davidson, Inc., produces sport motorcycles, motorcycle parts, accessories and apparel, including the 1125R superbike, 1125CR cafe racer and air-cooled XB-series Ulysses, Firebolt, and Lightning. To learn more about Buell motorcycles, or to locate the dealer nearest you, log onto www.buell.com.